In spite of the strong development of early LGBT villages in the state, pro-LGBT activists in Louisiana have campaigned against nearly 170 years of especially harsh prosecutions and punishments toward gays, lesbians, bisexuals, and transgender people.
Although it came from these modest beginnings, the Southern Decadence festival now covers an entire week of events, culminating with the annual parade in the French Quarter, generating millions of dollars for the city's economy.
However, few remember that Decadence began with a group of straight and gay friends in the Faubourg Tremé neighborhood to celebrate the end of the long hot summers.
However, on June 24, 1973, an arson attack on the club which provided room for the congregation to meet ended in 32 deaths from burning and smoke inhalation.
The attack, which was never officially solved by New Orleans police, was a historical marker for LGBT people in Louisiana, as memorialization of the victims by local clergy proved just as difficult as finding proper burials for the dead.
In 1975, the Gertrude Stein Society was established, becoming a local nexus for future gay rights activism in Louisiana.
LEGAL was a statewide non-profit organization dedicated to the equal rights of Louisiana's lesbians and gay men.
The organization, which supported a full-time lobbyist at every session of the Louisiana Legislature through 1998, was instrumental in passing the state's hate crime law, inclusive of penalty enhancements for crimes motivated by the victim's sexual orientation or perceived sexual orientation[5] - the first in the Deep South - and defeating an anti-gay marriage constitutional amendment.
With the concept that no single organization can move the state forward on their own, Equality Louisiana or EQLA served to coordinate statewide efforts.